Marilyn ‘Returns’ to Lexington Avenue

A waxwork statue of Marilyn in her ‘subway grate’ pose from The Seven Year Itch (on loan from Madame Tussaud’s) has been spotted at the Lexington Hotel in Manhattan, Parade reports. The hotel is located on Lexington Avenue and 48th Street, close to where the legendary scene was shot in September 1954 (on 52nd and Lexington), and boasts a ‘Norma Jeane Suite.’ The waxwork will be displayed in the hotel until August 17, alongside a statue of the Yankee Clipper.

Although the Lexington has claimed that Marilyn once ‘lived’ in Suite 1806 with Joe DiMaggio, she didn’t move to New York permanently until 1955, and had stayed at the St. Regis Hotel on 55th Street while on location for the movie. It was at the St. Regis – not the Lexington – that the iconic couple had an explosive row after Marilyn filmed the ‘subway scene’, prompting their split shortly afterwards.

However, Joe did use the Lexington suite as his New York base, as records of his phone messages indicate. It was also listed under Joe’s name in Frank Sinatra’s address book. Marilyn stayed with Joe at the Lexington on a few occasions, such as in March 1961 after sending  this telegram to him at the hotel. Her flight from Los Angeles had been curtailed by a snowstorm, as Ralph Roberts described in his memoir, Mimosa. (Roberts mentioned Joe’s Lexington suite twice in his book.)

Thanks to Our Marilyn Monroe